matryoshka
by BittersweetSonata
Summary: "My best friend has been missing for three days, something strange is going on here in Magnolia, and there's a dead guy haunting my house. So I don't know, how do you think I'm doing?"—natsu/lucy, gray/juvia


**notes: **so i actually have this one pretty well planned out and i am so proud of myself. in other news, crossing my fingers and hoping i don't get slaughtered by advanced classes this year. **  
****disclaimer: **own nothing. **  
****summary: **"My best friend has disappeared, something strange is going on in Magnolia, and there's a dead guy who has taken up residence in my home. So I don't know, how do you _think _I'm doing?"

**chapter title: **lucy on the streets with a ghost boy between her sheets

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_{make me a promise that time won't erase us,  
that we were not lost from the start}_

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**i. **

Rain splattered against the windows, and dull russet eyes watched as the droplets raced down the glass panes of the police station. Papers rustled and telephones rang around her, but the blonde's sole focus was on the storm outside the building. She tiredly rubbed at her eyes and then slipped her pale hands back around the mug of coffee an officer had gotten her when she first came in. She'd barely touched it, and now the murky liquid wasn't so warm anymore.

Slowly, she pulled her gaze away from the windows and settled for staring at the coffee in her hands. She'd been here how long again? An hour? An hour and a half? Something like that. No one had even tried to talk to her since the rookie who'd sat her down and given her something to drink while she waited. She felt alone, detached from the world and the people around her.

The sudden sound of chair legs scraping against the tile floor caught her attention, and she looked up to see a young blond man with a scar running through his right eye taking a seat. She immediately sat up a little straighter, and after the man had gotten comfortable he glanced up at her.

"You're here about the McGarden case, right?"

She blinked a few times at his question and nodded. He sighed and rubbed his temples. "Look miss, I realize that you're worried—the girl has been missing for over seventy-two hours. She has no past history of…anything really, and as far as we know, no one is out to get her. She doesn't have any enemies that anyone is aware of, and she hasn't been home since she went missing. Nobody's seen her in over three days, and with her history—or rather, lack thereof—I understand that you're worried."

She stayed silent, and he continued. "We're doing everything we can to find her, so please, just go home and get some rest. You look like you could use it. Leave everything to us, and when we have new developments we'll call and let you know," he glanced at his watch and stood. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with the Captain in five minutes."

Her eyes lingered on his back until he disappeared around a corner, and then her gaze dropped back to the mug in her hands. She could go home, but it wouldn't be to rest. She'd hardly slept in three days, and doubted that it would be different now. So she ran over the information in her head. They hadn't found anything new. No suspects, no evidence, no clues, nothing. It had been over seventy-two hours and they hadn't heard a word.

She'd seen plenty of television dramas and movies and read enough thriller books to know that this wasn't looking good. Seventy-two hours of nothing but old facts and radio silence was not a great combination, and she concluded that if she wanted to find anything, she'd have to do it herself.

But where to start? She had the exact same thing the police did: absolutely nothing. She only had simple facts and probably outdated information. None of it mattered, but she didn't know where to start looking for what did. Maybe if she tried questioning the kids at school and the people in her neighborhood. The police had already done that a day ago and come up empty-handed, but someone had to have seen _something_; maybe they just weren't up to speaking to the cops about it.

Her brows furrowed and she didn't realize that she was scowling down at the drink in her hands until someone cleared their throat.

"Coffee here is terrible, isn't it? Here," a to-go cup from a nearby coffee shop was set in front of her, "this is probably a lot better than whatever they gave you."

Her head snapped up, blonde hair flying from the sudden action, and she blinked at the man sitting across from her. He was older—looked like he was in his mid-forties, she concluded—with wild crimson hair that shot up in all directions. His eyes were dark and kind, and there was an understanding smile on his face. A police badge hung from a chain around his neck, and in his right hand he grasped a similar cup as the one he'd placed on the table. He was quite handsome, she thought, if you were into older guys that is.

"Detective Igneel Dragneel," he introduced, stretching his free hand across the tabletop.

She slowly reached out and grabbed it, and after a brief handshake, she opened her mouth for the first time in at least two hours. "Senior high school student Lucy Heartfilia."

The kind smile never left his face, and in fact brightened considerably at her reply. "Don't mind Laxus, he's just booked a little tight these days and probably hasn't been getting enough to eat," he leaned forward and beckoned her closer. "Don't tell anyone else this but, when he doesn't get a good, solid three meals in him, he tends to be a bit cranky."

For what was probably the first time in nearly four days, Lucy cracked a small smile. "Thank you, Detective Dragneel. For the coffee, I mean."

He waved a hand dismissively. "It's bad enough they think that we like to drink it, but subjecting concerned citizens to that culinary catastrophe? That's like some kind of crime. I couldn't let such a pretty girl as you suffer such a fate."

The blonde let her eyes fall to the newer, warmer drink next to her and she picked it up. Igneel watched as she tentatively took a sip, and then gulped some of it down. "So, I overheard that you're here about Levy McGarden?"

Lucy took a deep breath and exhaled quietly. "Yes."

"Are you a friend from school? I seem to recall that you're the one who filed a missing persons report. Aren't you a little young for that?"

She wouldn't look him in the eye. "I…she's my best friend. Levy doesn't have any biological family left, so who else was going to do it? She'd do the same for me if I just disappeared into thin air."

Igneel took note of the sourness in her tone as the last few words left her lips. "I see. You did a good thing, Lucy—the right thing. You reported her absence as soon as you could, and that really increases our chances of finding her. You're a good best friend, sweetheart."

Lucy swallowed hard and clutched onto the paper coffee cup a little bit tighter. "If I was such a good best friend, I would have noticed is something was out of the ordinary. I would have noticed that something was off about Levy. But instead I was so focused on studying for this chemistry test we were supposed to have Monday, and this book I was reading—"

He stiffened and put a hand on her wrist. "Wait. Wait go back. What did you say? About how something was off with Levy?"

The blonde nodded, looking up at him from under her thick lashes. "She was…I don't know, acting weird I guess. She's kind of a bookworm—and don't take it the wrong way, I am too—but she kept reading the same paragraph over like five times in our literature class, and she kept spacing out. And Levy never spaces out—she's always focused on whatever is going on. Then, at lunch she grabbed a peanut butter cookie instead of her usual oatmeal raisin. She's like, deathly _allergic _to peanuts."

Her head dropped into her hands. "I can't believe…Detective Dragneel, do you think she _knew_?"

Igneel could lie, could say that no, maybe she was just having a bad day or something of that nature. But seeing the girl in front of him, and how perceptive she was, he knew that she'd figure it out sooner rather than later. "Maybe," he conceded. "Or she might have just noticed that something strange was going on around her. The whole city's changed in the past few months, it just feels different."

Lucy glanced up at him again, eyes full of unshed tears, and he placed a hand on her own. "Don't worry, Miss Heartfilia. Everything is going to be okay. Now, I know that telling you to go home and get some sleep is probably worthless, but the police precinct isn't a place a girl like you should be for almost three hours. And the newbies are starting to look at you funny. That guy over there looks like he's working up the nerve to come over here and talk to you the minute I leave, and trust me, I have it on good authority that he's bad news when it comes to girls. So," he gestured vaguely to the door, "I'd bail before he gets the chance to charm me or whatever."

She gave him a wobbly smile and stood. "Thank you, detective. For talking to me."

He smiled back. "Anytime, Miss Heartfilia."

Igneel's expression turned serious as she turned and walked toward the door, and as her fingertips reached grazed the handle, he called out to her. "Oh and Lucy?"

She swiveled back around to look at him and he nodded at her. "We'll find her. I promise."

The blonde pulled her pea coat closet around her frame and nodded back, before pulling the door open and slipping out into the rain. He watched her disappear, and didn't even flinch when someone roughly placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You shouldn't be making promises you can't keep, Dragneel," Macao's voice warned him.

He clenched his jaw and crushed the empty cup in his hand. "I'm not."

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Lucy stepped through her front door and dropped her house keys onto a side table. She fell back against the door as it closed and sighed, before sinking to the floor. She crossed her arms over her knees and let her head fall onto them. She could still taste the vanilla and caramel from the coffee she'd had earlier, and it mixed with the awful metallic tinge in her mouth.

"Hey Luce! You're home late, I was getting kind of worried."

She stiffened and didn't even bother looking up. "_Go away._"

"Wha—hey, what's wrong? Are you crying? Lucy? Is everything okay?"

She lifted her head and glared hard at the figure crouching in front of her. "I said _leave me alone_! I don't need you right now! Why don't you just leave?! Aren't you supposed to be dead anyway?! Why the hell do you have to haunt _me_?!"

Her bottom lip quivered after her sudden outburst, and tears trailed down her cheeks as she stared at the teenager in front of her. He still had the same wild pink—_salmon_, she remembered him correcting her upon their first meeting—hair, same tanned and strong jaw, same clothes he always wore—white scarf, dark blue graphic tee shirt, slightly ripped blue jeans, and red high tops. There were some notable differences however, like how his usual bright and sharp-toothed grin was missing, and how his dark eyes were filled with hurt instead of their usual mischievous light.

He was very handsome, she could not deny, and supposedly they were around the same age. Or at least that's what he claimed. There were three slight problems though. One, he was apparently, a ghost who had two, also apparently chosen her home as his preferred placed to spend his afterlife or whatever, and three, she didn't have the slightest clue as to why.

He—Natsu, as he'd introduced himself a couple of months ago on the night they had met—closed his mouth and let his outstretched hand drop back to his side. They stared at each other for what seemed like years, until Lucy broke their eye contact by wrapping her arms around her legs and burying her head in them.

"I'm sorry Natsu. I'm sorry. I didn't…I'm just…my best friend is missing and the police don't even have any leads about anything, and something weird is going on in Magnolia, and you're…_here, _and I just…"

"I wish I could touch you," he whispered suddenly.

She looked up at him. "What?"

He reached out and watched as his hand passed straight through her hair. "I wish I could touch you. Comfort you. Do _something, _dammit. It's like…like I'm not even here and I can't even do anything. I'm not here, but at the same time I am here, and that's all I am."

Lucy sniffed and brushed some of her tears away with her sweater sleeve. "Well I mean, I never thought that I'd be haunted by my own personal ghost—who's actually kind of cool and funny but also kind of moronic sometimes. So I don't know if this helps with coping with being…dead, or whatever, but you matter. You matter to me. I know I was worked up and I yelled at you earlier, but honestly, I've kind of gotten used to you invading my personal space and ignoring all boundaries between, well, _everything._"

He smiled at her then, something lopsided and meaningful. She smiled back.

"Well, if there's anything I can help you with that doesn't involve touching things, lifting things, or talking to people then I'm your guy," he joked, running a hand through his already messy hair.

Something occurred to her then, and she scrambled to sit upright. "Actually…actually there _is _something…"

He raised a brow and placed his hands behind his head. "Oh? Is that a look of…what? Mischief? Interest? We gonna rob a bank or something?"

She frowned at him and rolled her eyes. "No we're not going to rob a bank. Honestly, Magnolia has enough problems and general weirdness going on right now," she shook her head. "No. We're going to investigate Levy's disappearance. If you're in, that is."

Natsu grinned at her. "Well what are we waiting for, then? I mean, I'm already dead and whatever, but you don't have all your life."

Lucy made to smack him then, but he laughed as her hand went straight through his shoulder without touching him. "You're so mean, Natsu. I can't believe you sometimes," she huffed, but looked him in the eyes again. "Listen, I'm not just asking you to help me for nothing."

He gave her a lazy smirk. "What're you gonna do? Pay me? It's not like I can use money, Luce."

She sighed and crossed her arms. "Actually, I was going to offer to help you look for," she paused and a conflicted expression crossed her face, "y'know, killed you."

Natsu's smirk dropped almost instantly, but then it was back again, only darker this time. "You've got yourself a deal then, Miss Heartfilia. Where do we start?"

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**end notes: **please note that this is purely fictional. and that i also don't think that levy actually has peanut allergies. juvia and possibly gray will be introduced next chapter, for those who are wondering. and _yes_, there will be romance in future chapters.


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